Yamaha Motif

Motif 6

It's not a vintage synthesizer, but it has definitely earned a place in
history! Originally released in 2001 by Yamaha, the Motif is a music workstation
that really has it all and has grown over the years in polyphony and waveform memory
with the ES (2003) and XS (2007) series. Its features include Yamaha's AWM2 tone generators,
massive polyphony (62 to 128 notes), an excellent sequencer, a sampler, A/D Audio
inputs, AIEB2, mLAN compatibility, and stereo inputs. Between the various models, it
has anywhere from 84MB to 355MB of sounds for thousands of waveforms. Its mLAN compatibility
works great with Cubase LE (which usually comes included in the
package). The Motif Classic, Motif ES, and Motif XS all came in 61, 76, and 88 key
versions, and the 88-key models are always balanced hammer-action as
well. The Motif is a perfect synthesizer/workstation for studio
use as well as live applications.

Motif ES7

The sounds found on the Motif are conveniently arranged into categories
according to their type, such as Piano, Organ, Strings, Leads, Pads, FX,
Drums, etc. It has preset voices which are made up of up to 4 of the
available waveforms which can be edited individually or all together. There are plenty of
drums kits, and 128 to 384 user voices that you can use to create your own
sounds or save edited presets in. The workstation also includes Yamaha's
"Megavoice" technology which adds immense realism to its acoustic
sounds such as its guitars, basses, pianos, brass, strings, and so on.
Megavoice technology provides realistic expressions such as hammer-ons,
ghost notes, slides, and fret noises which are all activated depending
on how much force you apply to the keys. The quality of the voices will
leave you stunned, the acoustic sounds are extremely realistic and of
excellent quality and the synthetic sounds are mind-bending. All of the
voices can be edited in just about anyway you want as well, such as
Cutoff, Resonance, standard Attack/Release. Of course, you also have
your Octave Up/Down buttons (not included on the 88-key versions), Pitch
Bend wheel, Modulation wheel and a Ribbon controller (ES, XS, MO models), which can be
assigned to do different functions. The tone generator is also
compatible with Yamaha's Modular Synthesis Plug-In boards which you
simply install and you instantly have a vast array of even more new sounds.

Motif XS8

The sequencer is just awesome. Once you get passed the user-interface
(which we'll come back to shortly) the sequencer has all the great
features you need to compose your music without having to get up from your
seat. There are 16 tracks which you can record the voices on the synth
itself or that you can transfer MIDI data into which is particularly
good for percussion tracks if you aren't that good with keeping rhythm,
though it does have a built in clicking/flashing metronome. It has multiple
sliders which normally act as faders, and there are knobs to adjust different
parameters. You can also plug another instrument like a guitar, bass, or
another synth into it and use the synth's numerous effects like Chorus,
Celeste, Flanger, Phaser, Distortion, Overdrive, and so many more.

Motif Rack ES

The disadvantages: When compared to its rivals (Roland Fantom-X and
Korg Triton) the major disadvantage is the user-interface, as mentioned
above. The screen was left as a simple LCD screen in order to keep the
price a decent amount whereas the Roland Fantom series and Korg Triton
series have large color LCD displays. The XS model does, however, have a
much improved large LCD screen to address this issue. The Korg Triton's
display was also touch screen. Fortunately for Motif users, the controls
were easy to learn after a short amount of time.

I'm aware that I'm leaving out a lot of features such as the Arpeggiator
and Remote/mLAN features but there's just so much to explain and so many
things this workstation is capable of. You'll just have to try it out
yourself! There are so many models to choose from, it should not be hard to find one that
works for you - in terms of keyboard size, polyphony & waveform memory, or pricing.
While on the topic of different Motif models, here are all the different models:

Motif MO: A sort of "lite" version of the Motif ES which had less polyphony and waveforms, but of equal quality. It also lacked the studio features such as mLAN connectivity, sampling and multiple foot controllers and only came in 61 and 88 key models:

The link above will take you to an eBay search for this synth to see active listings with more images, specs and information. If you don't find it there, try looking in our forum marketplace. Our marketplace gets thousands of visits every week so make sure to check back often if you want to buy or sell a synth.

As always with synths vs other synths, it all depends on how it's used, but which between the two mentioned synths has better overall sounds, like more authentic realism in acoustic instrume... | Read more...